Student ingenuity paves the way: Access to fresh water for all with Hydration Station

CONTRIBUTED BY ERIN LEWIS

On Monday, University of Evansville student Jack Deig, along with his Hydration Station teammates, cut the ribbon to Downtown Evansville’s first outdoor hydration station. Leading the ceremony was Evansville Mayor Stephanie Terry, along with officials from Deig’s partners at Culligan Water, Evansville Water & Sewer Utility, and the University of Evansville’s Center for Innovation & Change.

Located in Downtown Evansville next to the Cascade Waterfall in the Greenway Passage, this station is the first in partnership with the City of Evansville and Evansville Water and Sewer Utility.

The Hydration Station is a contactless water found that filters water through a reverse osmosis filtration system. The water remains chilled and can be operated outdoors year-round. The first outdoor station was opened on the University of Evansville campus in October 2023. The first indoor station was launched at Patchwork Central. Deig and his teammates have plans to install more stations, including at each of the six Evansville Promise Neighborhood schools through a partnership with University of Evansville’s Center for Innovation & Change.

Deig first presented the concept of Hydration Station at the University of Evansville’s Changemaker Challenge while still in high school in 2022. He placed 3rd in the local competition, 2nd in the global competition, and earned a scholarship to UE. As a UE student, Deig has been able to take advantage of the university’s flagship ChangeLab program, which allows students to earn college credit for working on projects that improve the community. He has been working on Hydration Station in ChangeLab for four semesters and plans to continue expansion of the project this fall. Other cities have already expressed interest.”